First National Rank Flags - 1858

The saluting instructions of 4 September 1858 abolished the common rank and
command flags for the Norwegian and Swedish navies. In Norway, admirals were
to use the war ensign of 1844 as rank flag (to be hoisted on different masts
according to rank). The commissioning pennant was left unchanged. Three new
rank flags were introduced:

A commodore, as commander of a squadron was given a red over white over
blue over white over red (~6:1:2:1:6) with the union mark in top hoist
corner.

Commanders of detachments had a swallow-tailed pennant (~1:3) divided
red-white-blue-white-red (~5:1:2:1:5) with union mark in the top hoist
corner.

Commodore

image
by Željko Heimer

Triangular pennant in the Norwegian national colours (no cross) with the
herring salat in the canton. As in other cases when the saltire is included in
non rectangular canton, the deformations make it a rather unpleasant sight.Željko Heimer, 15 July 2002

Commander of a Detachment

image
by Željko Heimer

"Broad pennant" (i.e. swallow-tailed rectangular flag) in the
Norwegian national colours (no cross, though I haven't noticed this in all
places where maybe needed) with the canton of the herring salat.Željko Heimer, 18 July 2002

Non-Commissioned Officers

image by Jan Oskar Engene

National Rank Flags - 1875-1905

New saluting instructions of 8 April 1875 made some changes to the rank and
command flags of the Norwegian navy.

A flag for the commander in chief of the navy was introduced. He was to
have two crossed white command staffs in the red field under the union mark
(bottom hoist).

Admirals were no longer to use the plain war ensign. Instead stars were
added to denote their rank. An admiral was to have three white stars (1 over
2) in the bottom hoist red field, a vice-admiral two stars (side by side), and
a rear-admiral a single star. The pennant previously used by commanders of
detachments (introduced in 1858) was now to be used by commodores as
commanders of squadrons. Commanders of detachments were now to use a pennant
with the union mark at the hoist with the rest of the field divided
horizontally red-white-blue-white-red. The plain red pennant of
non-commissioned officers was retained.

Amendments of 1898

The pennant introduced in 1875 for commanders of detachments was replaced
with a pennant identical to the one for use by commanders of detachments in
the 1858 instructions. That is a red-white-blue-white-red horizontally
striped pennant with union mark in the upper hoist corner, not covering all
of the hoist as in the 1875 pennant).

Instructions of 1901

The salutation instructions of 21 October 1901 introduced two additional
flags.

The Minister of Defence was to fly the war ensign with the Norwegian arms
in white in the bottom hoist red field.

The commanding general (or commander in chief of the army) was to fly a
square red flag with the Norwegian lion in gold over two crossed command
staffs also in gold. The lion faced the fly. This flag was used to 1905,
when it was dropped because it was too similar to the then adopted royal
standard.

Commodores as commanders of squadrons were now to use the broad pennant
wih the union mark in top hoist.

Commander in Chief - Navy

image by Željko Heimer

The state flag with the herring salat in canton and two white batons in
saltire in lower hoist quarter.Željko Heimer, 18 July 2002

Admiral - 1875-1905

image by Željko
Heimer

Herring Salat in canton and three white stars in lower hoist quarter. As I
have noted when dealing with the state flag, the 1844 pattern on which this
one should have been modeled is shown by Engene with curious middle tongue.
Either the flags followed it (not shown so by Engene) or the state flag was
changed in usage to the modern look (with herring salad, of course), possibly
silently. Third possibility is that the "odd 1844" is erroneous.Željko Heimer, 16 July 2002

Vice Admiral

image by Željko Heimer

The state flag with the herring salat in canton and two white stars in
lower hoist quarter. I don't know if we have covered it, but I just
remembered, and this seems the most adequate place to put it - the post-1905
admiral flags probably retained the 1-2-3 stars system until some modern date
when they were changed to 2-3-4 (and 1-star was recently added finally). This
may be also good spot to ask - where there flags of generals, yacht clubs,
postal ensigns etc. before 1905 to match the current usage (at least some of
those may have been there)?Željko Heimer, 16 July 2002

I am not sure I understand what you are asking about. The major change in
1905 was the total removal of the union badge from those flags in which it was
still retained - that is military flags and the yacht ensign. The union badge
was removed from the state, post and customs flags in 1899. The yacht ensign
also had a change of cipher, as Oscar II was replaced by Haakon VII. Further,
the Royal flag was changed into a heraldic banner of the national coat of
arms. Before 1905 the royal flag was the state flag/war ensign with the union
coat of arms in the intersection of the arms of the cross. I have not made
images of this flag because the coat of arms is too complex to draw (for me at
least).Jan Oskar Engene, 17 July 2002

I guess it is this arms in Arnaud Bunel's "Heraldique Europeene"
website here.Sanitago Dotor, 18 July 2002

Right. And with two crowns above the escutcheon to indicate not one united
kingdom, but two kingdoms sharing the same king. It was introduced by Oscar I
(father of Charles XV) to promote equality within the union, for the same
reason that they both got new flags at the time, with the same union badge.
The union arms were only used by royals and the foreign service. Both states
kept their individual coats of arms for internal use, and the Norwegian lion
was removed from the Swedish coat of arms.Lars Roede, 18 July 2002

Rear Admiral

image by Željko Heimer

The state flag with the herring salat in canton and one white star in lower
hoist quarter.Željko Heimer, 18 July 2002

Detachment Commander

image by Željko Heimer

Triangular pennant of the Norwegian national colours (stripes only, no cross)
with the herring salat at the hoist. After just a two dozen years this flag was
abandoned and the previous one was reintroduced.Željko Heimer, 17 July 2002

The blue stripe with white fimbriation is jut a little bit wider then the
yellow stripe. Is this correct? The same width would be more logical IMHO.Mark Sensen, 18 July 2002

The difference is, no doubt because the difference in the relative width of
the stripes in the Norwegian and Swedish flags. So, what do we do - make the
Swedish stripe smaller or Norwegian wider? (The latter, I guess might have well
been practice even if the different was prescribed).Željko Heimer, 18 July 2002